Team Kenya bagged 12 medals in the just concluded 2021 edition of the African Schools Individual Chess Championship.

The Kenyan youngsters managed to clinch three gold medals, four silver medals, and five bronze medals in the championship that took place at the PrideInn Azure Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, from December 12-20, 2021. South Africa came second in the medal standing, winning ten medals with five gold, followed by Ghana and Uganda with four medals each. Malawi and Botswana secured claimed medals each.

The championship attracted 166 players from Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, with Kenya and South Africa fielding the largest number of players - 67 and 41, respectively.

Kenya's Elizabeth Cassidy dominated the Under 11 Girls category by annihilating all her opponents to score a whopping nine points in nine rounds. Cassidy cruised through the rounds easily, crushing the opposition from South Africa, Malawi, Uganda and her compatriots to clinch the gold medal.

"It feels really nice to win. I have been training really hard, and my training has finally paid off," said an ecstatic Cassidy.

"My goal now is to make it to the national team in the near future, but it is not going to be easy because I have the likes of Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Joyce Nyaruai, Woman Fide Master (WFM) Mongeli Sasha and WCM Wanjiru Lucy to beat," she added. Cassidy is the only Kenyan player with maximum points in the tournament.      

Kenya's Wambui Bernice secured the third spot by scoring 6½ points, 2½ points behind the champion Cassidy. South Africa's Naidoo Kajol took second place with 7 points.

In the Under 11 Open section, Kenya's Muiruri Don scored 7 points, winning silver, just half a point behind top-seed champion Mungal Ethan of South Africa, who netted 7½ points.

Ingado Mercy gave Kenya gold after chalking up 7½ points by taking out Uganda's Namirimu Britney in the final round of the U17 Girls category.

After losing to Botswana's WCM Refilwe Tsutsu in round seven, Mercy kept up her fighting spirit to beat Zimbabwe's Mawire Rumbidzai and Uganda's Namirimu Britney in the following two rounds. These victories propelled her to the top of the podium.

Jamie Obora from Kenya managed to win bronze in the Under 13 Open category despite being humbled by his compatriot Olando Paul in the last round.

In the Under 13 Girl's category, WCM Shah Devashri secured the runner-up position with 7 points, a point behind tournament winner and top seed, Malawian Dutt Lakshita.

Devashri had a shaky start after losing two games in rounds three and five but came back from behind to win five straight games, which was not enough to overtake top seed Dutt.

In the strongest category, the Under 17 Open, Kenya's top seed Robert Mcligeyo took third place after scoring 6 points while his fellow Kenyan Muchiri Rocky only managed 5½ points (5th place).

Kenya's Candidate Master (CM) Lwanga Aguda bagged silver medal with 7½ points in the Under 15 Open category after drawing with Goliath Brimarion of South Africa in the last round. Aguda, the top seed in the category, lost narrowly to gold medalist Pido Edwin of Uganda in an earlier highly contested round four clash.  Uganda also took bronze.

Harry Kags of Kenya beat Zimbabwe's Aidan Magudhu in the final round to claim bronze in the Under 9 Open category. He trails behind Uganda's Mibiru Jayden, who is in second place with 8 points, and Ghana's Acheampong Dave in first place with 9 points.

In the under seven open, Manyeki Nathaniel narrowly missed the podium after attaining 6 points to secure the fourth position. Ghana and South Africa clinched the top three spots.

Elsie Kamoni of Kenya won the gold medal in the Under 7 Girls category with 4 points while her compatriot Kaburo Winnie took silver with 4 points.

Text: Steve Okeyo

Photo: Chess Kenya (photos and videos of all rounds)